


i'm coming, wait for me

by WonderstruckSwan



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Orpheus and Eurydice Myth, Underworld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 09:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19742647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderstruckSwan/pseuds/WonderstruckSwan
Summary: It seems that Hades, like Rumpelstilskin, has an affection for deals, and he offers Emma one; lead Killian out of the Underworld. No looking back, no checking behind her, no laying eyes on him no matter what she hears. But the path back home is fraught with dangers and tricks of the mind-can Emma really trust herself to save him when others stronger than her have failed.





	i'm coming, wait for me

_I'm coming wait for me_

_I hear the walls repeating_

_The falling of our feet_

_And it sounds like drumming_

“The rules are simple,” Hades had said to Emma. All she has to do is lead Killian out of the Underworld and back to Storybrooke. and there’s only one catch; she doesn’t look back, no matter what. No matter what she hears or feels, no matter what she thinks or fears, she doesn’t look back at him. There’s two potential winners here; Emma and Hades. If she wins, she gets him back for the rest of their mortal lives. If she fails, if she looks back and lets Hades win, Killian’s his, forever this time. No second chances, no trying again, no way back in. Hades promised that the portal to the Underworld will close behind her. He told her that portal shouldn’t exist, created by the gods millennia ago when they started getting egotistical. There should only be one way to the Underworld, and when she’s finished there will be again.

She hugs her family tightly before they leave through the clock in the graveyard, clinging tightly to her father’s shoulders the way she would have done a million times as a little girl if she could have. She lets her mother wipe her tears and kiss her forehead, lets her whisper an assurance that it will all be okay, that she’ll see her again with Killian by her side. She gives Belle a quick hug, letting herself melt into the girl’s embrace for mere seconds as she wishes her good luck before she moves to hug Killian. She hugs her son close to her chest, telling him she loves him. Henry nods against her and reminds her that she’s a hero, and that heroes always win. She nods, but the smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She loves him, loves his faith and rigid belief in hope and goodness, but she doesn’t know if she believes it. For two years she’s seen good people dying and villains winning, both of a fairy tale variety and from the real world. Still, she tells him she knows and thanks him and promises to see him at home. As they go through the portal together, Emma’s vision blurs as tears burn her eyes.

“Hey,” Killian whispers in her ear, wrapping his arm around her waist. “It’s still open. You can go with them if you want. An easier journey, at least.”

“No,” she says firmly, shaking her head. She turns around to look at him, brushing her knuckles against his cheekbone. “I came down here to save you and that’s what I’m doing.” He smiles at her breathlessly, pulling him closer to her.

“Thank you,” he whispers. “I know it’s a bit redundant but thank you.” She shakes her head wordlessly at him and pulls him in to a kiss, letting a tear slip from her eye and mingle in between their lips.

“Hey,” a reluctant voice says from behind them. They break apart gently, her hands still on his chest, and see Milah looking at them with wide, sad blue eyes, holding Marian’s hand tightly as the other woman rubs her back. Marian still looks as lovely as the day Emma met her in the Enchanted Forest, and it’s no wonder Milah fell in love with her so quickly down here. And the more Emma gets to know Milah, sees her fire and her passion, her bravery and her sadness, she understands more and more why Marian loves her in return. “It’s time.”

They meet Hades in his chamber, Emma feeling dwarfed by the seemingly endless ceiling, icy water dripping from it onto her head, running down her hair.

“Here’s the deal. You go through there,” Hades explains to her, gesturing to an opening in the rock wall, a long stretch of black nothingness that makes Emma’s hands tremble. “You walk. You keep walking and you keep to the path until you find yourselves in Storybrooke again. And if-or when-you turn around, you fail. If you see so much as a fraction of him, even the tip of his finger, he’s mine. Forever. And you don’t see him again until your time comes-agreed?” He holds out his hand, a wicked grin on his face that reminds her of Rumpelstiltskin and his own affection for deals.

“Agreed,” she says, shaking his cold hand. Despite her racing heart, she doesn’t stop looking at Hades, smirking slightly when he turns away from her. She hopes one day it’s known that when Emma Swan and the God of Death locked eyes, he looked away first.

“Emma,” Milah says urgently, pulling on her hand, pulling her away from Hades and moving her head to meet her towards her worried gaze. “Be careful.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” she replies.

“No, I do,” she says. “Emma, that tunnel is still Hades’ realm. He can manipulate everything while you’re in there. Make you hear things, feel things that aren’t really there.” She takes in a shuddering breath. “Or make you unable to hear things that are there.”

“To hear him,” she says, her eyes moving over to Killian.

“Exactly,” she says. “So no matter what you hear or don’t hear, trust yourself more than anything else.”

“You think I can trust myself?” she asks, her voice shaking.

“Of course,” she replies with a small smile. “I don’t know a more resourceful, intelligent woman.” Milah’s cheeks turn pink as she looks over to Marian. “Well, maybe one.” Emma chuckles. It’s short lived and hollow, but it’s nice to have some relief before she goes.

When Killian hugs Milah goodbye, she sees the centuries on him disappear, and for a minute he’s the same twenty something new pirate he was before his dark path. In all honesty, it does hurt her heart more than she will ever admit, that she might not be the one to bring him back to that point, no matter how many new memories they make, but seeing him like that, the glow on his face as he hugs Milah and hands her over to Marian still makes her smile.

“Are you ready?” she asks, looking up at him. He offers a shaky smile, but it’s no comfort at this point. There won’t be any comfort until they’re on the other side of that tunnel and holding each other again.

“Lead the way, Swan,” he tells her. “I’m right behind you. Always.”

Always, she thinks. As she steps into the tunnel, she hopes that’s true.

The light disappears as soon as she steps inside. The blackness stretches out in front of her and there’s no way of telling if it goes on for meters or miles, if it ever ends at all. Just looking at the centre of the long dark path makes her dizzy. The cold winds cut through her jacket and sweater and jeans, nipping at her skin, making little goose bumps sprout up. She pulls her hair back to stop the wind tearing through at and knotting it, but that only lets it get at her neck. All over her body, it feels as though tiny, smaller-than-small soldiers are pricking at her with minute swords.

“Let’s do this,” she announces, her breath coming out in white vapour, stark against the blackness before her. Behind her, there’s nothing, no breath on the back of her neck, no words of agreement. Or maybe there is but she didn’t hear it.

She starts walking, wobbling on the uneven ground. She reaches out to her right and finds a stone wall, as cold as Hades himself had felt when she shook her hand, rife with jagged edges and small sharp stones running down it, beginning to tear skin off her hand, slowly at first, but it build up and up until she feels blood beginning to trickle down her palms and into her sleeve. Still, she won’t take her hand off this wall.

In the silence, she hears her footsteps echoing on the ground, the sound bouncing off the walls and she assumes the ceiling, creating the overlap of dozens of sounds, building up to a drumbeat of her steady walking. One foot, the another. Then one, then the other. One then the other. One then the other. One the other. She tells herself that the lack of noise behind her doesn’t matter, only what’s ahead matters. Home, true love, happiness and safety, waking up in his arms and him kissing her a million times a day. That’s what matters.

“Emma!” he calls behind her, his voice so high and frantic it cuts through her soul. “Emma!” On instinct, she turns her head just a fraction, but claps her hand over her eyes, forcing herself to remember Milah’s words. For all she knows, this is just a trick of Hades’, and he’s right there behind her. He needs to be.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers before continuing. One foot in front of the other, building up a steady rhythm, mirroring the beat of her heart-the beat of his heart, when they get there at least.

She keeps walking-for how long she doesn’t know. It could be minutes, hours, maybe even days. She can’t feel anything other than fatigue and anxiety, and she can’t even remember when she stepped into the tunnel. It might as well be that she’s been here her whole life.

A shadow makes her stop in her tracks- an outline etched in blue of a woman with a hood over her face, the lower half of her body lost in mist, long hair peeking out from her hood. She glares at Emma with piercing white eyes.

“Who are you?” she asks, her voice barely a whisper. “Who are you to think you can save him?”

“Emma Swan,” she replies, licking her dry lips. “The Saviour.” The woman chuckles, bitter and humourless. “Who are you to say I can’t.”

“I was called Eurydice,” she explains. “I tried. We tried to escape. And he failed me. Orpheus was the son of a god. You’re the daughter of a shepherd and a failed Queen.” The shadow sneers at her. “What makes you think you’ll succeed where he failed?”

“I…” her weak voice trails off. What’s a would have been princess to the son of a god? But she tries anyway, not using her words, but the words of the people who love her. “I defeated the Wicked Witch of the West. I defeated Peter Pan. I broke the Dark Curse. I am the Saviour. That’s what I have that he doesn’t.”

“A Saviour,” she scoffs. “Let’s see you save him.” She peers behind Emma and snickers behind her hood. Emma focusses all her attention beyond Eurydice until she fades away, back to wherever she came from, if she was ever really here.

One foot in front of the other. One in front of the other. One in front of the other. Even with the sound of footsteps of someone looming to her right, the echoes of cruel giggles following along her left, the feeling of a hundred thousand eyes on her, she refuses to stop or even slow down.

Behind her, she hears an unmistakable cry of pain, identical to the one that Killian let out when she pierced his gut with Excalibur, and she halts dead in her tracks, her blood turning to ice.

“Killian?” she whispers pleadingly. She clenches her jaw, forcing the muscles in her neck to remain still, her face to stay forwards. “Killian?” All she hears in reply is a feeble grunt, the sound of someone’s life draining from them.

She closes her eyes as tightly as she can, her hand still on the wall after all this time. She pushes herself forward, one shaky step after the next. As she goes, she feels the ground beginning to get less and less solid, her feet sinking into what feels like marshlands, mud slipping into her boots. She dares crack open her eyes and finds there is light now, dim and barely there, just enough to let her see the vast grey lake that stands just before her.

How long can she hold her breath?

She wades into the water; it feels thin and cold against her body and soon comes up to waist and more until she’s paddling through it, Killian hopefully behind her until there’s nowhere else to go, just a stone wall that goes on forever. She cranes her neck to look at it, but unlike the wall that cut her hand a dozen times, this is completely smooth with no way to climb it.

Maybe she’s not meant to go up.

“Follow my lead,” she says aloud, hopefully to him. She takes in as much air as she can and dives underneath the water. Her ears ring as she submerges herself in the murky lake; in front of her all she can see is grey, and the water stings her eyes so badly she closes them. She blindly propels herself forwards with her weary limbs, her arms reaching out and touching nothing as she half swims half paddles her way to wherever she’s meant to be going, wading through an endless stream of the water. Her lungs begin to ache, then the ache turns to a burn as she goes longer and longer without breathing. With no end in sight, she keeps going, even as her throat becomes tighter and tighter, her head spinning and throbbing.

Soon, instinct wins out over logic and her mouth opens of its own accord, her brain too tired to stop it. She gags as the water rushes down and burns her throat, trying to spit it out only to be met with more. She feels her arms flailing before she tries to get them under control and dares to open her eyes just to see how far she has left to go, if she can see anything at all.

To her surprise, she doesn’t see a dark expanse of grey nothingness in front of her-just a few feet ahead, there’s a light, distorted and blurred, but it’s there. She swims towards it, her head throbbing as it gets more and more intense. Still, she keeps going, closing her eyes as her lungs scream with a burning ache that spreads up her throat. She keeps pushing until she feels something solid underneath her hand. She claws at it, feeling what must be mud underneath her fingernails, pulling again and again until she can fit through the narrow opening, damp mud slithering against her chest and torso as she uses her arms to keep pulling herself forwards. It’s so dark inside, Emma doesn’t even know if she has her eyes closed or not.

Finally, her head breaks through and she feels cold air on her face, hears the sweet sound of leaves rustling in an evening breeze, even as her legs float weightlessly beneath her. She opens her eyes and nearly cries at the sight; she’s in the lake. Not the lake in the Underworld, but the one in Storybrooke which she used to first get into the Underworld. She spends a few seconds just filling her lungs with air; even the air feels different here. Cleaner. Alive.

She grabs the bank and pulls herself up, staggering to her feet. She looks down at her hand and finds it almost completely torn to shreds and covered in blood. Funny, she thinks. She had barely noticed it in the tunnel. She wipes it on her jeans, wincing slightly, making a note to fix it when she gets home. She’ll have to fix it the old fashioned way, she’s pretty sure she can’t even conjure up a paper bag right now.

But there’s one thing she needs to know before she goes anywhere.

“Killian?” she asks quietly, so quiet she can barely hear herself. She clears her dry throat and tries again. “Killian?”

There’s only one second of silence but she feels like it’s dragged out forever.

“I’m here,” he replies. His arms come from behind and wrap around her. “I’m here, Emma.” She turns around to see his blue eyes, his stubble, his dark hair, his pointed ears, everything. She buries her body in his; his solid, real body. His heart beats under her hand, slightly erratic and wild, but it’s there, and for now that’s all that matters. They’re far from out of the woods, and they might not be for month, there’s conversations to be had and healing to be done and forgiveness and trust to be earned and re-earned, but they’ll deal with all of that later. For now, all they have time for is holding each other, next to the sealed-off portal to the Underworld, a place they will hopefully not have to see again for a long, long time.

_And we are not alone_

_I hear the rocks and stones_

_Echoing our song_

_I'm coming_

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when your timeline on Twitter is that one scene from Hadestown over and over again.  
> Anyways, please leave comments and kudos if you liked it x  
> Also: Milah didn't get thrown into the River of Lost Souls and is now dating Marian in the Underworld because this is my fanfiction and I do what I want.


End file.
